Mayor, family members urge end to Warren violence

Mayor Doug Franklin met Monday with family members and friends of a 24-year-old man killed Saturday in Warren and dozens of his friends, in an effort to bring peace.

At a news conference this morning at city hall, the mayor, Richard Rollison IV’s father, and other members of the Rollison family talked about the progress Monday’s meeting brought and urged the public and news media to avoid sensationalism to bring calm to the city.

Monday’s meeting and today’s press conference followed events of the past 10 days that began with an officer-involved shooting of a 24-year-old man on Risher Road Southwest.

The killing of Rollison IV at a West Market Street gas station early Saturday, exactly one week after a Warren police officer shot to death Taemarr Walker, 24, has raised concerns about retaliatory violence in the city, and posts on social media have caused concern for school officials.

“I don’t want to come to another funeral,” Richard Rollison III said Monday at the press conference. “It’s senseless. We don’t need this.”

Police said TaShawn and his father confronted people at the tavern because they believed party-goers were celebrating Taemarr’s death. Gunshots were fired. TaShawn has since been arrested near his home in Baytown, Texas.

Other acts of violence have occurred at or near home where Taemarr Walker lived and his mother lives.

Warren police and security personnel searched the backpacks and bags of students who entered Warren G. Harding High School Tuesday. Only a fraction of the normal number of students attended school.